Digital Downloads Era Is Ten Years Away, Says Kaz Hirai.

Physical media will remain on the market for a long time, according to the chief executive officer of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. Even ten years from now not everything will be possible to download and there will be work for the future generations of standard like Blu-ray disc.

“We do business in parts of the world where network infrastructure isn’t as robust as one would hope. There’s always going to be requirement for a business of our size and scope to have a physical medium," said Kazuo Hirai, the head of SCE in an interview with MCV web-site.

Bill Gates, the ex-chairman of Microsoft Corp., said once that Blu-ray and HD DVD would be the last physical formats for consumers. Sony does not believe that BD will vanish into oblivion any time soon. Considering the fact that it is likely to release the next-generation PlayStation sometime in the middle of the decade, it is safe to say that the PS4 will feature optical media.

“To think everything will be downloaded in two years, three years or even ten years from now is taking it a little bit to the extreme," added Mr. Hirai.